As I've mentioned previously, I have a relatively large music collection, divided between out of date media (cassettes); stubborn media that doesn't believe they're out of date (c.d.s) and media that has been in and out of date more times than a coffee drinkers daily intake (45s & LPs mostly).
This week's post is about that pesky runt of the bunch, a runt where original copies stopped being produced by the conglomos by 1992: 45s.
My 45 collection isn't what you would call huge, unless you think having nearly 1,000 units covering nearly a bakers dozen worth of genres huge.
However, my 45 collection came about in roughly the same way that my L.P. collection grew: 20% of actual money being spent, and 80% being offered said items after having a version of the following conversation:
I should note that this did actually happen. My brother was taking one of my children to a b'day party, and he found a box of 45s by the side of the round that someone was throwing out.
Now the main reason why the percentage of 45s purchased is so ridiculously low, boils down to a strange facet about me. A fact that you've probably never came across in your entire life: I never really listened to music in a way that most people did while growing up. Sure I listened to it on the radio (mostly AM Radio), but I never actually went out to buy the music I was listening to. For me, music was something more akin to pleasant background noise than anything else.
I didn't actually start acquiring that particular media until I was in my late 20's, and ever since I been making a good dent into making up for lost time. Especially after I started working for the state in the mid 1990s, and I had co-workers who exposed me to other genres than what I grew up listening to.
I would now like to present to y ou a few samples from my collection. Please excuse the minor water damage on the covers, for they were caught in the minor basement flooding of 2021.
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1} Boxed set of The Carpenters.
This one is a little weird, in that I actually read the liner notes on the box for this post (I know, slap my hand with a ruler). It's a tribute to The Carpenters that originally came out in 1994 (reissued as a CD in 2011, now out of print in that format, but available as a download). Because this came out in 1994, it features such eclectic artists as: Sonic Youth, 4 Non-Blondes, Mathew Sweet and Grant Lee Buffalo, just to name a few. All performers who put their spin on the classic Carpenter music.
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2} Boxed set of Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite #1.
I have a treasure trove of boxed classical sets, some were pressed in the regular black vinyl, others like this one, were pressed in color vinyl. Back in the late 50's/early 60's, color vinyl was a thing that companies would use to make their product stand out (ex. I have a polka 45 that is pressed in green vinyl). RCA Victor was no exception, as back then I think their only major rock act they had was Elvis, with everyone else being in the classical/easy listening/popular* music genres.
*Back then, 'popular music' referred to what we call "The Standards" today, that every ye oldies musician sings trying to stay relevant (e.g. Rod Stewart).
Speaking of popular music of the 50's/early 60's, we have the following EP collection.
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3} Jackie Gleason presents.
This music was the type you would often hear in the background of "serious" movies of that era. These were pieces that were "conducted" by Jackie Gleason, after he had "chosen" theme as per his "musical tastes".
Now the sarcasm peppered in that previous paragraph, is directly due to me taking the liner notes with a mega dose of skepticism. Knowing what I've learned about the entertainment business over the decades, especially for that era, I'm leaning towards his image/name being used in order to sell more records, and thus, just like how it's done in ye modern times (image/name is everything these days).
Have a smashing Monday and sparkling week.
